Total area: 510,072,000 km2
361,132,000 km2 (70.8%) is water and 148,940,000 km2 (29.2%) is land

Comparative area: land area about 16 times the size of the US

Land boundaries: 442,000 km

Coastline: 359,000 km

Maritime claims: Contiguous zone: generally 24 nm, but varies from 4 nm to 25 nm
Continental shelf: generally 200 nm, but some are 200 meters in depth
Exclusive fishing zone: most are 200 nm, but varies from 3 nm to 200 nm
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; only the Maldives varies from 35-310 nm
Territorial sea: generally 12 nm, but varies from 3 nm to 50 nm; note--32 nations and miscellaneous areas are landlocked and include Afghanistan, Andorra, Austria, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Iraq-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Swaziland, Switzerland, Uganda, Vatican City, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Disputes: major international land boundary disputes--Argentina-Uruguay, Bangladesh-India, Brazil-Paraguay, Brazil-Uruguay, Cambodia-Vietnam, Chad-Libya, China-India, China-USSR, Ecuador-Peru, Egypt-Sudan, El Salvador-Honduras, Ethiopia-Somalia, French Guiana-Suriname, Guyana-Suriname, Guyana-Venezuela, Israel-Jordan, Israel-Syria, North Korea-South Korea, Oman-UAE, Oman-Yemen, Qatar-UAE, Saudi Arabia-Yemen

Climate: two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates

Terrain: highest elevation is Mt. Everest at 8,848 meters and lowest depression is the Dead Sea at 392 meters below sea level; greatest ocean depth is the Marianas Trench at 10,924 meters

Natural resources: the oceans represent the last major frontier for the discovery and development of natural resources

Land use: arable land 10%; permanent crops 1%; meadows and pastures 24%; forest and woodland 31%; other 34%; includes irrigated 1.6%

Environment: large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions), overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife resources, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion

NOTE: The information regarding World on this page is re-published from the 1991 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of World Geography 1991 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about World Geography 1991 should be addressed to the CIA.